Improvement in car-roofs



H. ALDRIDGE.

GAR-ROOF.,`

No.194,286. A Patented Aug. 21,1877.

" lime/2 tof".-

` UNITED STATES PATENT ICJrTICEb HIEAM ALDEIDGE, oEsT. LoUIS, MISSOURI;

IMPRovEMENT Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.`

l April To all whom it 'may concer/u: a

Be it known that I, HIRAM ALDRIDGE, of the city and county of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gar-Roofs; and I do hereby declare that ythe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in whichj Figure 1 is a perspective view of a partlyfinished roof, exhibiting my improvements employed in its construction. Fig. 2 is a ver-4 tical cross-section of the same through one of the bolts wherewith the ridge-beam and ridgeboard are clamped together. This view shows different modes of applying the metal sheets. Fig. 3 is a verticalw longitudinal section in front of the eave proper, in the line a: as of Fig. 2. This view shows different modes of making the joints of the roof water-tight.

My invention relates to car-roofs made of a board covering, and either a complete metal lining or a partial metal lining forming lnetal joint-strips, both extending from the ridge to the eaves, the wood being beyond the metal, and both being so fastened to the body of the car that the metal lining or joint-strips are not pierced by the fastening-bolts or screws, so that any section of the said coveringwood and metal-may be removed and re placed 'without disturbing an adjoiningseetion, or the remaining sections on either side of the ridge. Y

'The nature of my invention consists, first, in certain constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, as hereinafter fully described and specically claimed, whereby af roof with the above-described improvements is obtained.

It consists, second, in constructing the lower sides of the covering-boards with corrugations, and fitting the corrugations thus formed into the corrugations of its metal lining for the purpose of making the roof stron ger, more solid, and durable.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the body of a car, a the eaves, B the crossibeams of the roof, and b the rafters. C is the 'ridge-beam, and D the ridge-board. The said ridge-board D is bolted, by means of `1N CAR-RooFs.

[94,286, dated August 2l, 1877 application tiled E'are longitudinally corrugated in the same shapeas the linings F,- upon which they rest, as seen at c, in 'Fig.3. This construction .secures a perfect` and tight fit between the roofboardsand the lining-pieces, and for thatreason the lining need not extend along over thelwhole inner surface of the roof, but the roof `wlll, be sufficiently tight and secure against leakage `of water by placing a narrow strip of Acorrugated -sheet metal centrally under each expense of construction considerably.

The boards E and linings F of each side of the roofl meet at the ridge, and are, by means of the bolts d, tightly clamped between the ridge-board D and the ridge-beam C without piercing the roof-boards or their linings. The lower ends of the linings F rest upon the eaves a. of the car, and are cut oft' ilush with beyond them, but not entirely over the eave- 'cornice, or beams G. The lower ends of the and are fastened on each side of the ear upon outer eave-beams G, at e', Fig. 2, by fastenings which do not pass through the eave ends of the metal sheets. The outer eave-beams are fastened, by means of studs or blocks g, to the inner eaves a in such a manner that a number of vertical spaces are left between the said blocks, through which spaces the water from the linings F is allowed to drip between the beams and the eaves. The ridge-board is, as usual, covered with a running-board, H, which has lateral supports h along each side. It is seen that by means of the described construction of my rootl the linings are held down and in place only by the pressure of the roof-boards which pressure is produced by the fastenings of the boards and the ridgeclamp, thus entirely avoiding the piercing of the linings for bolts or other modes of fastening, whereby labor and materials are saved, and all chances for the water following the bolt or other fastening through the said linings into the wood of the car-body are cut olf. In case of' necessity for repair, the screws e or other fastenings of the respective boards E are removed, and the ridge-bolts d, near the bolts d, upon the roof-boards E and their linings F. Theunder surfaces of 1the roof-'boards joint of the said boards, thereby reducing the the same, or may be allowed to project slightly roof-boards E extend beyond their linings,

said board, are eased by unscrewing their nuts until the clamping force of the ridgeboard D and the ridge-beam G is so much reduced as to permit pulling the said board and its lining out of position. The board removed may be replaced by a new or better one, or the respective. sheets of lining may be eX- changed, or other repairs may be done on either side of the ridge-piece without taking down the ridge-board or undoing such fastenings of the roof as are ordinarily intended to be permanent, and therefore o'er great difficulties to their removal, and generally necessitate the removal of the whole roof ora large part of it.

I will state that, so far as the features of invention of fastening the sheets by a ridgejoint clamp, and of making sheets which laterally adjoin one another, and abut against one another at the gable, shorter than the curving-boards, and so as not to be pierced by the fastenings of covering-boards is concerned, the principle would not be departed from if the sheets or the covering-boards, or both, were made plain instead of corrugated,

and if they were lapped upon each other laterally, or were only placed under the joints of the covering.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. In acar-roof wherein metal sheets and wood covering-boards are used, as described, the combination of the clamping ridge-board and ridge-beam, and the outer eave-beams, with spaces between them and the eaves, for the purpose of fastening the roof without piercing the sheets and allowing water to es; cape, substantially as set forth.

2. In a car-roof, the combination of the latera1lyadjoining roof-boards E of a length i i greater than that of the lining or joint-sheets, and the ridge-clamp, substantially as set forth.l

3. In a roof, the boards E, having their inner or lower sides corrugated to t a corrugated metal lining or metal joint-strips, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand in the matter of my application for a patent for an improved car-roof this 3d day of April, 1877.

HIRAM ALDRIDGE.

Witnesses J. W. PHILLIPS, L. P. BARNES. 

